Shifting Changes (The First Shift) (2 page)

Shayonn
shifted his weight as he watched the other man. This was becoming far more
dangerous than what he’d bargained for. “I have no idea what you’re talking
about.”

“Of
course you have,” Faolan replied. “No need to hide it. I’m in the same boat. So
come on, spit it out—what are you?”

“I’m
just the guy who shares this room with you,” Shayonn grumbled. “And I intend to
make this a relaxing and quiet stay, so how about you keep your curiosity to
your side of the room?”

“Whoa,
kid—”

“I
mean it!” Shayonn snapped and Faolan shut up.

Chapter
2

Three
days later, Faolan looked up from the book he was trying to read. Shayonn, the
little nuisance had just tossed another sweets wrapper at the bin and missed.
Leaning back, Faolan rubbed his forehead, then pressed the balls of his hands
onto his eyes. All he had wanted was to be somewhere quiet and peaceful, in a
place where people were busy enjoying their holidays and only interested in
themselves and their recreational delights. Instead he’d ended up with one of
the nosiest and least vacationally-inclined guys he’d ever met. Unfortunately
the guy was also one of the hottest he’d ever met.

Trying
not to reveal that he was looking, he watched the other man from the corners of
his eyes. Shayonn. It was a nice name. Faolan couldn’t quite place it, but it
reminded him of the home he had once known. The bad thing about Shayonn was
that he was constantly in motion. And he smelled so delicious. His scent had
filled the room ever since he’d entered it, teasing Faolan with the heavy aroma
of male body and the underlying, alluring fragrance of the animal he was.

Despite
his earlier announcement of making this a quiet holiday, Shayonn constantly
fidgeted in some way. Even when he stared at the darned TV, he did something
else simultaneously. He chuckled quietly and to himself. Unwrapped a chocolate
bar. Opened a bottle. Got up and walked around. Twitched. Scratched his belly.
Rubbed his chin. Played with his hair.

“Stop
it, for fuck’s sake!” Faolan yelled.

Shayonn
turned his head, eyebrows raised. “What?”

“That!”
Faolan waved his hands to indicate the room. Damn, he needed to move. Why had
he decided to stay in a bloody hotel? He should’ve known it would make him feel
trapped and itching to run. Run. That was it. He needed to run.

Watching
the bewildered and annoyingly amused expression on Shayonn’s face, Faolan
slammed his laptop shut, got up and crossed the room. He yanked open the door
to the tiny bathroom and snatched a towel off the rack. Spinning around, he
nearly smacked his head on the doorframe, but his instincts kicked in and he dodged
it. Instead, he slammed his flat hand on it, feeling a perverted sense of
satisfaction when Shayonn jumped at the sudden sharp noise, then he grabbed his
water bottle and left. The door fell shut with a loud bang.

Out
on the long, narrow aisle, Faolan took a moment to breathe deeply. He was
angry. His rage was legendary amongst his friends. The few of them he had
anyway. He couldn’t help it. The bursts of blind fury just welled up and took
over and he considered himself lucky if he managed to get out of whatever
situation had brought them about without hurting anyone.

Making
a chance decision, he turned left and strolled down the hallway at a fast pace
until he reached the end with its colourful direction board. He glanced at the
letters, searching for the word that would bring him relief. Good. There it
was. And not far away either. Just a few doors and another aisle separated him
from what little freedom he could allow himself. By the time he burst into the
small gym, he was so excited his leg muscles twitched in anticipation.

He
barely noticed that someone was in the room already. Whoever it was occupied
the workout bench and Faolan didn’t care much for that. The only thing he cared
for was the treadmill. He hopped on, punched the on-button and set the speed at
a ridiculously high level to start with. He didn’t care about pulled or sore
muscles either. In fact, he welcomed the ache as it distracted him from his burning
anger.

The
ground underneath him shifted as the machine whirred into life and Faolan’s
body jolted into action. He observed his motions almost passively. His legs
moved, eating up the endless distance of the spinning belt. His heart rate shot
up, going from a moderate seventy to about a hundred and twenty in seconds. It
didn’t get much higher than that, not from just running.

Faolan’s
body was made to run, in either form. He opened his mouth, as usual suppressing
the urge to let his tongue loll out. Oh, how he wished he was at home, on the
sibling machine in his own basement where he could run in the shape he felt
most comfortable in. Or better yet, he wanted to be in the forest, on a hot
summer’s day, shielded from a bright blue sky and blistering sunlight by the
towering trees on either side of an endless path.

Closing
his eyes, Faolan tried to concentrate on the image. He wanted the ground uneven
but soft, cushioned by the leaves that the trees around him had shed.

The
air was hot and rich with oxygen and the scents of nature. The mouldy smell of
a patch of damp moss on a dead tree trunk. The earthy aroma that drifted from
the ground where wild boars had dug for food earlier.
Better not bump into
one of them,
he mused,
or things might get nasty.

He
opened his eyes, only just enough to see where the control panel was. He
increased the level, forcing his body along at breakneck speed until he felt
the muscles in his legs scream from the strain. His feet pounded out a steady
rhythm, loud in the peaceful silence of the daydream he’d created. Sweat poured
from every pore, forming rivulets and running along his neck, his back and
chest, seeping between his thighs on the way down his legs.

The
moisture dampened his shorts and the thin fabric clung to his body like a
second skin. It felt strangely good. It hugged his groin, his balls, and his
own movements created a friction that made his dick twitch in hope. Of course
it did. Amazing it had taken so long for it to begin to fill. Faolan knew why
his temper boiled over so easily these days.

He
needed a mate, someone who could keep up with him in the bedroom and out of it.
But someone like that was hard to find. Someone who shared his sexual appetite
and wasn’t afraid to face the animal he was on the inside—and sometimes on the
outside. Oh, how he wished for someone he wouldn’t have to be careful with in
either shape. His last lover had been a human, no shifter, so not much chance
for unrestrained sex there.

Another
wolf would have been nice, but that just wasn’t an option.

“Do
you intend to go on much longer?” The voice was soft and sweet, and yet it
yanked Faolan out of his thoughts with an intensity that made him lose his
rhythm. Tripping up, he made a couple of frantic leaps to stay on the treadmill
and find his pace again. His heart raced as he realised that he’d been close to
shift. Instinct kicking in. The same instinct that made him flare his nostrils
as he caught the whiff of female sweat that tickled his nose. He glanced at the
girl. It was the cute receptionist who had checked him in. No name tag this
time, and she was in a tank top and cotton hot pants, so off duty. Faolan
licked his lips.

No
name tag. Only the swell of firm but generously sized breasts under a tight-fitting
green top. Her nipples were hard, two naughty little pebbles that taunted him
to touch, taste and tease them with his tongue.

He
hit the off button, again nearly sending himself careening off the machine as
it ground to an abrupt halt.

The
woman’s soft chuckle caressed his ear. “Watch your step,” she said in a throaty
purr. A shudder ran down Faolan’s spine. He had a thing about purrs and cats, and
this one was tempting. She must have been a cat. The way she stared at him with
slightly narrowed, almond-shaped eyes was unmistakable. Only real shifters
could manage a look like that. Only real shifters could appeal to the animal
inside him with an intensity that made him tingle all over with excitement.

Faolan
growled. The woman grinned.

“I
knew it!” she said. “You’re one of us!”

“Hardly,”
Faolan muttered. “I’m not your kind.”

“No,
you’re not,” she agreed, tilting her head as she scrutinised over his face.
Then she trailed her gaze over his body, assessing him with those mischievous honey
coloured eyes until she came to a halt at his crotch. She didn’t even try to
conceal it, just checked him out openly. It seemed she liked what she saw.
Raising her hand, she brought a finger to her mouth. Her lips parted and she
took the fingertip in, dragging it across the soft, velvety skin. Faolan nearly
fainted as the blood rushed to his groin. He didn’t know if she was only
teasing him, but she was darned good at it if she was. He wanted her, and was
aching already. His cock was hard against his stomach, throbbing in time with
his overexcited heart beat.

“What
do you want?” he muttered, aware that he was nearly growling the words.

She
smiled, still resting that finger on her lips and flashing pearly white teeth amidst
the pink of her mouth. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“Uh…”
Faolan didn’t know what to say. It was obvious, yes, or so he hoped. “Why me?”

She
laughed. “There aren’t many like us around here. I’m sure you know the problem.
Humans just aren’t up for what we want.”

“What
are you?”

“Can’t
you guess?”

“Some
kind of cat. A big one, probably.”

She
cocked her head and pursed her lips. “It doesn’t matter, does it? All that
matters is that we are here. I’m not interested in shifting anyway, but I need
you to understand that there is more about me than what you see.”

“Okay.
Do we have this room to ourselves?”

“Yes.”
She shot him a wink over her shoulder as she walked to the door and raised a
key ring. “For as long as we want to.” She pushed the key in the lock and
turned it around, then walked back to him with slow, teasing steps. Faolan’s
cock twitched. She was driving him mad with this slow torture.

She
stopped in front of him, head tilted to the side and lips curved into a tempting
pout. It was more than he could bear. He grabbed her, pressed her slender body
to him as he crushed his mouth to hers. She gasped in surprise and tensed in
his hold, but then she melted against him, surrendering. He explored the sweet
cavern of her mouth and savoured her unique flavour but it was just an
appetizer. There was so much more of her that he wanted to discover and taste.

She
slipped her hands under his T-shirt, trailed the cords of muscle on his back
upwards and back down, then squeezed his buttocks. He flexed his muscles and
she giggled into the kiss. It was nice, so he did it again, but then he was no
longer in the mood for playing.

He
lifted her up and carried her to the weight bench. She moaned a protest when he
laid her down, but he ignored it and trailed his hands down her front, cupped
her full, heavy breasts and squeezed them gently. Her moan became a sound of
pleasure. He rubbed her nipples with his thumbs. They were erect and pushed
against her thin gym top like two eager buttons waiting to be pushed, so he
pressed them some more before he followed the line of her flat stomach further
down to the hem of her shirt and slipped his fingers under it.

He
couldn’t wait to see her naked. Her well-rounded breasts were a temptation he
couldn’t resist and he leaned down as soon as he had freed them, brushing a
kiss across one and then the other before he closed his lips around the left nipple
and suckled it. She let out a small gasp and he bit the sensitive nub, careful
at first then harder until a soft cry escaped her. He turned to the right
nipple and repeated the action. She arched up to him, welcoming his lips and
teeth.

He
was sorry to let her go so soon, but he wanted more. Her breasts were exquisite
but there was just so much more to play with. He trailed a line of kisses down
her peach-skinned belly to just above her waistline. She didn’t complain when
he tugged at her shorts, so he pulled harder and slid them over her hips. He’d
gripped the little nothing that was her underwear along with the cotton shorts,
so she was naked now. He leaned back to appreciate her. She was beautiful, all
creamy smooth skin and lush curves. Despite her long, slender legs and arms,
she had curves, a nicely rounded hourglass shape that made him long to run his
tongue over every single inch of her.

He
started with her thighs. They, too, were soft under his touch and he stroked up
and down their lengths a few times before he slipped his hands between them and
parted them. She followed his lead willingly and offered him her core.

Her
scent filled his nostrils, sweet and spicy at the same time and his mouth
watered in anticipation. He lowered his head and lapped at her. She twitched,
then went still again as he traced her with his tongue, following each line and
fold until he found the little sensitive bead.